Douglas
Aircraft Company (DAC)Douglas Commercial EightDC-8

History
of Ship One & The Airlines Who Flew ‘Her’

DC-8
Ship One, registered N8008D, was rolled out of the Douglas Aircraft – Long
Beach, CA – Factory on April 9, 1958. The Prototype DC-8 made its first flight
on May 30, 1958 in front of over 95,000 employees and spectators and flew
for 2 Hours and 7 Minutes on the initial flight. The next test flight occurred
on June 4, 1958 and between June and late August Ship One accumulated 72 hours
of in-flight testing in a total of 22 flights. Ship One was later joined by
Ship Two (N8018D) a DC-8-21 in November 1958 and Ships 3 & 4 (N8028D &
N8038D), a DC-8-12 & another DC-8-11 in December 1958 and January 1959
respectively, for further flight testing and FAA Certification. Ship’s 2,
3 & 4 were all destined to be delivered to United Air Lines. Ship 7 (N8068D)
a DC-8-33, the first Intercontinental Version of the DC-8 & destined for
Pan American, joined the testing program in February 1959. A total of 10 DC-8s
were used in a comprehensive testing program to permit the FAA Certification
of all of the early DC-8 versions in a short period of time. This enabled
the DC-8 Series 10, 20, 30 & 40 all to enter into airline service between
September 1959 and March 1960 which substantially cut the lead time that Boeing
had with the introduction of the different versions of the 707. Initially
Douglas was 3 years behind Boeing in their jet program but through the innovation
and dedication of the Douglas Team the DC-8 entered service just 11 months
behind the 707.Please see the ‘DC-8 Technical Data’ Section for more information on the
different DC-8 versions that were made.

Ship
One was certified by the FAA on August 31, 1959. The first two DC-8 Series
11s entered airline service with Delta Air Lines and United Air Lines on September
18, 1959. Delta beat United’s first DC-8 flight by only a few hours. In 1960
Ship One was re-engined with new Pratt & Whitney JT3D Turbofan Engines
which were more powerful, fuel efficient and quieter than the older turbojet
engines. The aircraft was then used to certify the first Turbofan Version
of the DC-8 – The Series 51 – which first flew on December 20, 1960. The first
Series 50 was FAA Certified on April 28, 1961. Beginning in June 1961 Ship
One entered into airline service and ultimately was operated by six different
airlines (see below – airline operators are highlighted
in blue) until it’s retirement in January 1982. This valuable &
irreplaceable piece of aviation history sat in the desert at Marana, Arizona
for nearly 20 years and was never saved and preserved by Boeing (who subsequently
had acquired Douglas/McDonnell Douglas), any of the airlines who operated
the DC-8 or an aviation museum. SADLY, SHIP ONE MET IT’S FINAL DEMISE IN 2001 WHEN
IT WAS SCRAPPED.

SHIP
ONE’s OPERATING HISTORY

MSN/LINE#

SERIES

REGISTRATION

OPERATOR

SHIP
NAME OR NUMBER

DELIVERED

DISPOSED

REMARKS

45252/1

11

N8008D

—

5/30/58

—-

FIRST
FLIGHT OF DC-8-11 SHIP ONE

”

51

N8008D

—

12/20/60

—-

DAC
CONVERTED TO DC-8-51;
FIRST FLIGHT 12/20/60

"

51

N8008D

—

6/21/61

5/26/62

DAC
LEASED TO NATIONAL AIRLINES

"

51

N8008D

—

6/20/62

5/11/65

DAC
SOLD TO TRANS INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES (TIA)

"

51

N8008D

—

5/11/65

12/65

TIA
LEASED TO LUFTHANSA

"

51

CF-CPN

EMPRESS
OF SANTIAGO

10/2/66

10/1/67

TIA
LEASED TO CANADIAN PACIFIC AIRLINES;
REREGISTERED N8008D UPON RETURN

"

51

N8008D

800

10/1/67

3/23/79

TIA
SOLD TO DELTA AIR LINES

"

51

N8008D

—

—

3/23/79

4/1/79

DELTA
AIR LINES SOLD TO
ITL INC. / FB AYER & ASSOCIATES

"

51

XA-DOE

QUINTANA
ROO

4/1/79

1/7/82

FB
AYER LEASED TO AEROMEXICO

"

51

XA-DOE

—

—

1/7/82

5/24/89

WITHDRAWN
FROM USE & STORED AT MARANA, AZ; REREGISTERED N8008D BY FB AYER
BUT REGISTRATION NUMBER WAS NEVER ACTUALLY APPLIED TO THE AIRCRAFT

"

51

XA-DOE
N8008D

—

—

5/24/89

1/7/92

FB
AYER SOLD TO AGRO AIR INTERNATIONAL AS N8008D BUT AIRCRAFT REMAINED
STORED AT MARANA, AZ AS XA-DOE

"

51

XA-DOE
N8008D

—

—

??

2001

FINE
AIR CARGO BOUGHT AIRCRAFT TO USE FOR PARTS; ARROW AIR ACQUIRED FINE
AIR BUT HAD NO USE FOR DC-8-50 PARTS

"

51

XA-DOE
N8008D

—

—

2001

2001

ACCORDING
TO ARROW AIR ‘SHIP ONE’ WAS SCRAPPED (AKA BROKEN
UP) AT MARANA, AZ SOMETIME IN 2001